From the grassroots: NATIONAL REPORTS - Social Watch

sri lanka
People and the environment should be first
The Government of Sri Lanka is implementing a neo-liberal, non-sustainable development model that has
displaced and impoverished people and has no regard for environmental needs. Already ravaged by the
longest civil war in Asia and by natural catastrophes such as the 2004 tsunami, Sri Lanka currently faces
severe environmental issues including deforestation and loss of biodiversity. Meanwhile the gap between rich
and poor grows wider. The defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has led to strong feelings of
dissatisfaction among minority ethnic communities, who feel their control over their lands has been reduced.
The Government’s military victory has nullified civil society’s political expectations.
Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform
(MONLAR)
Sarath Fernando
The neo-liberal model currently in place in Sri Lanka
continually displaces people from their livelihoods. It
breaks up social cohesion and disrupts the collaborative
relationship between nature and humanity as
it strives to extract more and more resources from
the environment in an aggressive and destructive
approach.
In 1996, for example, the Government considered
shifting rural agriculture from low-value
crops (domestic food production) to high-value
crops (for export). It was also suggested that farmers
should be encouraged to sell their land plots
and move out of the villages to seek non-farm employment.
A subsequent policy document stated
that the Government expected migration from the
countryside to make rural/urban proportions 50:50
by 2010. 1
A tsunami that hit the island in December 2004
led to a death toll of 35,322 and displaced 516,150
people. In 2005 plans for rebuilding the country suggested
the expulsion of all coastal fisher people. 2
Their land was to be used for the development of
tourism zones and modernized cities, designed
for a rich elite. It was also intended to switch into
large-scale industrial fishing that would replace the
small-scale, beach-based fishing on which people’s
livelihoods depended. Labour protection laws were
to be revised to enable the free hiring and firing of
workers, since it was assumed that investors were
unlikely to come to countries where labour was protected
by law.
Supporters of the neo-liberal economic growth
model assume that the best way to make it work
is by expanding exports through attracting foreign
investment and promoting the private sector by providing
more infrastructure facilities such as express
highways, international airports, harbours, mega city
developments, large tax holidays and cheap labour.
1 Government of Sri Lanka, “Connecting to Growth: Sri Lanka’s
Poverty Reduction Strategy,” in Regaining Sri Lanka: Vision
and Strategy for Accelerated Development, (2002), p. 83.
2 Amnesty International, “Sri Lanka – Waiting to go home, the
plight of the internally displaced,” (2006), .
Basic Capabilities Index (BCI)
BCI = 96
99
Births attended
100
0
Children reaching
5th grade
Surviving under-5
However this model has clearly failed to achieve its
declared objectives over the last 33 years. Sri Lanka
needs a different strategy, which has to address
serious issues including poverty, unemployment,
hunger and malnutrition.
Environmental issues
Sri Lanka is featured in several lists of “biodiversity
hotspots” – meaning regions both biologically rich
and endangered – along the Indian Western Ghats.
It is home to as many as 140 endemic species of
amphibians, for example. 3 But now the country is
facing important environmental issues, among them
the loss of biodiversity. A report by Conservation
International states that only 1.5% of the island’s
original forests remain. 4
Most of these forests were lost during British
colonial rule when they were cleared for rubber,
coffee and tea plantations, but deforestation also
took place during the 1980s and early 1990s when
Government soldiers cleared the rainforests because
they served as refuges for rebel forces. This
also displaced small-scale farmers. Between 1990
and 2005 Sri Lanka had one of the highest deforestation
rates of primary forest in the world with
more than 18% of the remaining forest cover lost
in that period. 5 Over 2.5 million palmyra trees, for
example, were felled for construction purposes
alone. Reconstruction efforts in the wake of the
3 Conservation international, Western Ghats and Sri Lanka,
.
4 Ibid.
5 Mongabay.com, Sri Lanka, .
87
100 100
99
Gender Equity Index (GEI)
GEI = 62
100
Empowerment
58
100 100
97
Education
Economic activity
2004 tsunami also increased the pressure on the
country’s forests.
The impact of climate change is a major concern
in Sri Lanka as well. For example, very heavy
rains that continued from 2010 to early 2011 caused
serious floods in many districts with huge losses in
agricultural yields. This will intensify food shortages
in 2011. 6 Many reservoirs and waterways have
been damaged and will require a large allocation of
money for repairs. Erosion is making the soil much
less fertile, so producers will need to spend more
money on fertilizers. All these issues have led to
increasing food prices, which are becoming almost
unaffordable by the poorer sections of society.
Political unrest
The military victory achieved in the north over the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (see box) has created
an appearance of peace in the country, but minority
ethnic communities have a strong feeling of dissatisfaction
since their control over their lands has
been reduced. It is feared that the continued military
control of the area is set to provide opportunities for
businesses, including foreign investment, that will
take control of the land and other natural resources.
People’s political expectations (such as for
transparent elections and commissions for better
functioning of the judicial system and civil service)
have been nullified by the Government’s military
victory, which enabled the presidency to extend its
powers and period of rule.
6 S. Patranobis, “Flood situation worsens, impending food
shortage”, Hindustan Times, (13 January 2011), .
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National reports 174 Social Watch